On The Definition And Copyright Exercise Rules Of Co-authored Work

According to Article 13 of Chinese Copyright Act,where a work is created jointly by two or more co-authors,the copyright in the work shall be enjoyed jointly by those co-authors.Even if a work of joint authorship can be separated into independent parts and exploited separately,it is co-authored work.But some Legislations(e.g.German law)distinguishes coauthored from merely combined works.If two or more persons have created a work in common,and their respective contributions cannot be separately exploited,there is a co-authored work.If their respective contributions cannot be separately exploited,there is only a combined work.This is appropriate.For example,in the case of a work of co-authorship,the term of copyright runs from the death of the last surviving coauthor.Otherwise,in the case of a work where authors combine contributions,the term runs separately for each contribution considered as an independent work.Because each didn't contribute to the independent part of the others.Chinese Copyright Law shall revise its definition of co-authored work and makes “cannot-be-separately-exploited” its requirement.When applying Article 9 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the PRC,the “agreement” requirement shall be interpreted as allowing some exceptions.The word “transfer” shall be expanded as including exclusive licensing and similar deposition.According to Chinese Copyright Act,if a work of joint authorship can be separated into independent parts and exploited separately,it is co-authored work.Its exploitation shall be based on the contracts between the authors.